COVID funds sought to fix emergency care need in northern Greenville County

To fill an urgent need for medical care in northern Greenville County, several stakeholders are seeking COVID funds from County Council to help build and open a free-standing emergency room in an area they say has been neglected.

State Rep. Mike Burns, who represents District 17 which includes northern Greenville County, said in the coming weeks, partners in the effort will make a presentation to the County Council.

“We decided a good thing to do was to get the county to help partner in this and see if the county would be interested in helping with the healthcare of these residents, let them take some of this COVID money, buy some property and build a little building for the ER," Burns told The Greenville News this week.

Greenville County Councilmember Joe Dill, whose District 17 also includes northern Greenville County, said he supports a proposal to have a new medical campus constructed in that area with the use of pandemic funds. He said a new medical campus in northern Greenville County is needed based on recent growth to the area.

He also said efforts should be made to fix the lack of emergency medical attention in that region even now.

"We’re talking about several years before that (new medical campus) can be put into operation," he said. "I want to see something happen now. I'm trying to get all of these hospitals to come together. All of them can address this problem."

COVID update: DHEC reports 9,934 new cases in South Carolina

The request to the county would come months after an announcement last year that Greenville County elected officials, Bon Secours St. Francis and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) would partner to return emergency services to the northern area of the county.

That gap in emergency coverage was created when Prisma Health announced on Nov. 5, 2020 that it would not reopen its emergency room department after temporarily closing it in April 2020, The Greenville News reported.

Prisma Health cited a lack of emergency patients when it made the announcement, The News previously reported.

Burns said after learning about the closure on a television news station, he got on the phone immediately and got together with Spartanburg Regional Healthcare, AnMed Health in Anderson, Bon Secours St. Francis and MUSC.

He said to them, “Look, who is interested in taking ownership and bringing an emergency room back to the northern part of the county?"

“Where I personally live, it takes 45 minutes to get an ambulance up here and 45 minutes to get it downtown,” he said. “A lot of damage, death and mayhem can happen in an hour and a half. So, it’s just not a good situation."

2022 State of the State: McMaster reiterates budget proposals, fight with White House

An Emergency Services Work Group was formed, at the call of elected officials, to study options that address emergency services in North Greenville and specifically, the feasibility of starting and maintaining a free-standing ER, according to a white paper proposal emailed to The Greenville News.

The white paper proposes a North Greenville Health Enterprise Zone in which "government incentives would entice private regional health systems, doctors, workforce development partners, such as universities technical colleges, and private businesses to participate." All hospitals and private businesses would be welcome to contribute to the effort, the white paper said.

The proposal also said a five-year-pro forma, or financial projection, was completed and showed that a free-standing ER would be financially sustainable under the following circumstances: corporate Bon Secours Mercy Health would assume long-term financial risk for operating the facility, the MUSC telehealth medical staff is initially implemented, and the county would provide the upfront capital for the land and to build the facility, the white paper said.

The capital cost to build the facility, including the land, would be approximately $18 million, the proposal said. The sum of the one-time financial investment from County Council, which would include the start-up costs, is $20 million, the proposal said.

Jennifer Robinson, spokesperson for Bon Secours St. Francis, said via text message to The Greenville News that, "at this time, we remain engaged in conversation but have not committed to any specific aspect of this project as of yet."

Bon Secours St. Francis CEO and president Matt Caldwell told The Greenville News in a Feb. 15, 2021 article, that while no promises have been made, he believes the right partners are at the table.

"At the end of the day, it is about our mission and we really do want to take care of the people that are in Greenville County and the surrounding counties," Caldwell said.

That comment still stands true now, Robinson said.

MUSC has proposed putting in a national model telehealth center in the new ER building, and offering telehealth to the entire Upstate, Burns said.

Heather Woolwine, a spokesperson for MUSC, confirmed that via email.

"That is correct, and there will also be coordination as appropriate with the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance and its partners," she said.

Initially, Burns said MUSC was reluctant to say they would come to the Upstate.

“They weren’t up here aggressively wanting to beat the doors down to come,” he said. “I had to approach them to get them to try to come up here because we have 400 square miles with no emergency health care. They’re a state entity and nobody else wants to help. They need to help. That’s my rallying cry.”

Related: American Rescue Plan to send $337 million to Upstate SC counties, cities and towns

Woolwine said she was unable to speak to Burns' categorization of MUSC being "reluctant."

But, she said, "MUSC Health is very conscientious about decision-making around public-private projects that might involve physical presence, connectivity and collaboration with local health care providers and community leaders.

"This kind of due diligence is reflective of the commitment MUSC Health makes to the sustainability of projects, how we can best serve or support local communities and their needs, and how a project aligns with our statewide mission to optimize human life for South Carolinians."

Greenville County received $91 million in federal aid in 2020 after Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act.

Bob Mihalic, the county's governmental affairs coordinator, said the CARES Act funding has been exhausted.

Greenville County was allocated more than $101 million in coronavirus relief funds as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) approved by the Biden Administration in March 2021, according to the U.S. Treasury website.

The county has received $50 million of those ARP funds and none have yet been allocated, Mihalic said in an email.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: COVID funds sought to put emergency care in northern Greenville County